President Bush's AIDS initiative, reauthorized for another five years this summer, wins widespread praise even from those highly critical of other administration policies. Yet some health experts worry AIDS funding has grow disproportionately large compared with other U.S. development spending.

Richard Holbrooke and Laurie Garrett, write about the concept of “viral sovereignty,” an “extremely dangerous idea” that asserts that deadly viruses are the sovereign property of individual nations. Fueled by self-destructive, anti-Western sentiments, this concept is slowly gaining traction and poses a real threat to global health.

Laurie Garrett argues that our focus in the fight against AIDS should not be to create a multibillion dollar industry that only treats the disease. Instead, our resources need to be geared towards finding a long-term cure that can stop the spread of the virus permanantly.

The passage of the President’s Plan for AIDS Relief has highlighted the ability of Congressmen such as Joe Biden and Tim Coburn to work towards bipartisan progress in a branch of government that is otherwise overwhelmed by cynicism and bitterness, writes Michael Gerson.

Listen to a discussion of maternal health issues and how central they should be to the global health agenda.

This event was made possible by the generosity of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Listen to experts discuss ways to better incorporate maternal health into the global health agenda.

This event was made possible by the generosity of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Listen to experts discuss the relationship between maternal health and global health in general.

This event was made possible by the generosity of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The World Bank analyzes trends and determinants in rising food prices as well as the impact on countries and households and recommends policy options for governments facing food crises.

Conscious of the increasing pressure on limited water resources, UN-Water has identified water scarcity as the theme for World Water Day 2007. This report reflects on the challenges posed by the unsustainable increase in water use and its degradation across the globe.

A policy brief based on the 2006 Joint International Conference: "Desertification and the International Policy Imperative." Desertification has emerged as an environmental crisis of global proportions. Recent evaluations clearly demonstrate there are no signs that it is abating on a global scale.

This report assesses the full impact of the livestock sector on environmental problems, along with potential technical and policy approaches to mitigation. The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to serious environmental problems.

Agriculture is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Greenpeace’s new report Cool Farming details the destructive practices resulting from industrial agriculture and presents workable solutions to help reduce its contribution to climate change.